“We are here to reclaim the greatness of this country,” Bachmann said to a crowd of hundreds at the Uni-Dome, the largest

Gingrich tongith at the Uni-Dome.

caucus site in the state. Her mother stood beside her.

Bachmann continued: “We are unwilling to allow Barack Obama to implement socialism in the United States of America.”

Gingrich received the most applause and was circled by supporters or people curious with his celebrity immediately after his brief talk. His biggest applause during his speech came when he noted that he had run a positive campaign.

“You have a chance tonight to send a signal to America that the consultant-driven, viciously negative campaigns are totally wrong. You can do that by refusing to vote for anyone who has run negative ads and you can insist on voting for someone who is positive.”

Nearly 50 precincts hold their caucuses at the site at the University of Northern Iowa. Surrogate speakers for the other candidates also spoke, most notably Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. He told the crowd that Iowa should stand behind a conservative candidate.